California Man Charged in Sophisticated Tech Elderly Fraud Scam
The 34-year-old Monterey Park, California man faces up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. If convicted of the maximum, Liu will be a senior citizen himself by the time he gets out of prison.
Why Reporting Tech Crime Matters
Many fail to report tech crimes to law enforcement out of embarrassment and fear that police won’t be able to pursue criminals in online cases.
This idea didn’t deter one 63-year-old victim of Liu’s alleged scam, a man from Poway, California. He reported the crime to the San Diego Sheriff’s Department, which is what put the widespread scheme on law enforcement’s radar, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Investigating agencies in the case included the FBI, San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, local Police and Sheriff’s Departments, and the San Diego Elder Justice Task Force.
How the Scam Worked
Prosecutors call the crimes “a layered tech support, bank impersonation and government impersonation scam.”
While the 63-year-old complainant was using his computer, he received a popup message that a virus had been detected on his computer. The man called the phone number listed on the fraudulent alert.
He spoke to a series of people who said they worked in tech support, say prosecutors. They transferred him to someone who said they worked at his bank and who conned him into withdrawing $28,000 from his accounts, which yet another co-conspirator claiming to be a U.S. Marshal was to pick up from the victim’s house for supposed safekeeping.
That’s when the victim got suspicious and alerted the cops. The cops arrested Liu at the victim’s house. They confiscated his phone, which contained evidence Liu had defrauded $348,000 from other victims in California and Arizona under similar pretenses in only one week in 2023, according to the press release.
Previous Arrests
Liu has two previous arrests for DUI, according to arrest records listed on Local Crime News, a website. The arrests occurred in February of this year and July 2019.
How to Deal With Suspicious Popup Messages
People shouldn’t click anywhere on popup boxes that claim their virus has a computer, according to an alert from the LA County District Attorney’s Office.
Clicking on a fake virus warning can cause damaging malware to be downloaded and expose victims’ financial and personal information,
says the alert
“That includes the little “x” on the popup box to close the alert. Instead, users should close their web browser. For instance, in Google Chrome, a user would click “Chrome” and scroll down to “Quit Google Chrome.”
Reporting Crimes Against the Elderly
If you or someone you know is a victim of a suspected crime targeting the elderly, you can call the National Elder Fraud Hotline at 1-833 FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311).
Internet crimes can also be reported at the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov.
Reporting tech fraud schemes works. Federal courts sentence perpetrators to stiff sentences behind bars, such as Patrice Runner, who perpetrated a similar fraud targeting the elderly, as detailed in previous coverage by The Daily Muck, and which you can read about here.
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